“For years and years, it has been underestimated, and our leaders have been able to get away with it because the Italian people as a whole seem unable to grasp the fact that their very security depends on looking after the land.”The tragedy in the Sarno valley must, she said, make land zoning and management a priority. “We have a great law in this country which we pushed through parliament in 1989, forcing local councils to draw up comprehensive plans for the protection of their territory, with proper building zones, river flood plains protected, and all the other measures needed to ensure that the land is respected,” she said “The problem is, it has never been implemented. In Sarno, for example, 20 per cent of the houses were built without permission.”The Greens are calling for a one-year plan to deal with the most pressing emergencies plus a long-term project for putting to rights the thousands of mainly man-made environmental problems which have arisen over the past three decades. “If nothing else, the Sarno disaster might wake people up to the dangers,” Ms Procacci said.The task, however, will be a difficult one, and, as Mr Realacci pointed out, it will take a lot of lateral thinking to ensure that Italy’s population is safe from natural disasters.In Quindici, for example, they should have been using part of the funds they had on incentives for people to leave homes which now lie buried under tons of muds, he said. “I dread to think what will happen to the thousands of people living high up the slopes of Vesuvius when that volcano goes off. There’s no way they can be evacuated,” he added.It is also, he said, a question of instilling pride.
“I look around me and I see the ugliness we have brought to our beautiful country It’s all part of the same process. We need to teach Italians to care about the land they live on.”. THE leader of Nigeria’s main opposition, United Action for Democracy, Olisa Agbakoba, has been detained, colleagues said yesterday. “He was arrested this morning at Lagos airport on his way back from a trip abroad,” one said
– Reuters, Lagos. THE Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd was under increasing pressure last night as revelations pointed to an embarrassingly close relationship between officials and mercenaries who ousted the regime in the African state of Sierra Leone.
Mr Lloyd was forced to admit that there were “points to correct” in information he had given to a Commons select committee earlier this week, when he said he had only recently been told that an investigation into the matter had been launched. He admitted yesterday that the matter had been passed to him “for noting” but he had failed to do so.
Mr Lloyd’s admission came as solicitors acting for Sandline International released a letter which claimed they had liaised very closely with senior British officials over their operation to help reinstate the ousted president of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.Sandline, which is headed by former army officer Lieutenant- Colonel Tim Spicer, is under investigation by Customs & Excise for alleged breaches of a United Nations arms embargo, but has insisted it was acting with government approval.The company released a “strictly private” letter, sent to Robin Cook on 24 April, claiming the Foreign Secretary had breached its confidential nature when he referred to it in the Commons on Wednesday.The Independent revealed earlier this week that Sandline had a series of meetings with Foreign Office officials just weeks before it arranged a shipment of arms to Sierra Leone to help President Kabbah, who was ousted last May in a coup led by Johnny Paul Koroma. It was also revealed that officers from HM Customs & Excise had launched an investigation into whether the shipment had broken UN and European Union embargoes, and into the possible role of British officials.The letter claims that Sandline met with up to four named officials from the Foreign Office. It also claims that the company carried out similar briefings with US officials as well as with senior military officers in West Africa. Sandline said it had been recommended to President Kabbah by his friend Peter Penfold, the High Commissioner to Sierra Leone. Mr Penfold is due to be questioned by Customs officers.While there is no evidence that ministers knew about Sandline’s operation, or of their contact with officials, the affair is becoming increasingly embarrassing for the Government – suggesting, as it does, a failure of communication within the Foreign Office. At the tip of the peninsula is Old Mission Lighthouse, set right on the 45th parallel, level with Bordeaux; hence the proliferation of vines in the area.
And, yes, the reserved English tourists couldn’t help themselves and joined in the fun of rolling all the way down again, laughing, screaming and getting a mouthful of grit. “Way to go, man!”Our favourite beach was on the narrow, 17-mile peninsula that pokes out north from Traverse City. This is an area of comfortable homes that are beginning to use up the land once occupied by acres of cherry orchards. We felt conspicuously British as we asked them to move out of the way. “Excuse me, please.” “Are you British?” some shouted back, waving a friendly beer can as if in a toast to international accord.It was a cooler day when we visited the Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore, to the north of Traverse City on the Leelanau peninsula. We joined other families trudging up the seriously high dune that rises to more than 400ft, only to find yet more sand stretching out in front of us. Like the Michiganders around us we stripped off and pushed out two rented aluminium canoes and let the gentle current take us downstream.
